1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to a ski boot comprising a shell consisting of synthetic plastics material and a shaft or cuff, respectively, swivellable relative to the shell and engaging, when being swivelled in direction to the boot tip, with its end portion facing the boot tip, the shell, in particular a protrusion thereof, the shaft or cuff, respectively, comprising at least one recess, groove or perforation extending transversely relative to the longitudinal direction of the boot.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With such ski boots it is already known to design the front edge, facing the boot tip, of the shaft as a stop face, which can, during a swivelling movement in direction to forward lean, come in operative connection with a corresponding counter-stop provided on the shell. It is further known to provide the cuff with grooves or ribs for influencing in this manner the flexibility within the front area. Finally, there were proposed attenuating inserts between the front edge of the cuff and the counter-stop on the shaft for preventing any hard impingement of the swivellable shaft portion on the shell.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,768 to Solomon, there has become known a construction of a shaft in which the front end portion has adjusting elements for providing adjustability of the stiffness and bending properties. In this known construction, a bendable element was either tensioned as a tension chord around the surface of the shell or was connected with the shell. When designing the bending elements as flexible elements placed onto the shell, additional anchoring means on the shell are required, which anchoring means increase the risk of fracture of the shell at the anchoring locations. When designing the bending element as an integral part of the cuff, compromises relative to the swivellability of the cuff had to be put up with. The adjusting elements formed of sliding elements had, for being secured against becoming lost, substantially to extend beyond the slot provided in the cuff at both edges of the slot. Furthermore, the cuff has a more or less pronounced tendency to become, during an attenuated movement in direction to forward lean, lifted off the shell and to become expanded relative to the shell in dependence on the adjusted position of the adjusting element, which impairs the tightness of the boot.